Underlying our democratic principles and institutions is an implicit assumption that all people can be made reasonable. The belief that self-preservation and the want of a comfortable life are common to all, and that once freed from erroneous beliefs and superstitions through a modern education, they will come to pursue these impulses reasonably. “If… superstitious fear of spirits were taken away, and with it, prognostics from dreams, false prophecies, and many other things depending thereon, by which crafty ambitious persons abuse the simple people, men would be much more fitted than they are for civil obedience. And this ought to be the work of schools.“
Can a Person Be Reasonable?
Can a Person Be Reasonable?
Can a Person Be Reasonable?
Underlying our democratic principles and institutions is an implicit assumption that all people can be made reasonable. The belief that self-preservation and the want of a comfortable life are common to all, and that once freed from erroneous beliefs and superstitions through a modern education, they will come to pursue these impulses reasonably. “If… superstitious fear of spirits were taken away, and with it, prognostics from dreams, false prophecies, and many other things depending thereon, by which crafty ambitious persons abuse the simple people, men would be much more fitted than they are for civil obedience. And this ought to be the work of schools.“